Containers are known and widely used for transport and storage of materials, such as liquids, powders, pastes and granular materials.
Containers are produced to be returnable or non-returnable.
Non-returnable containers are used when the cost of returning the container is not convenient for any reason. They are designed such that they can be sufficiently economically produced so that they can be discarded after one use.
A non-returnable container is disclosed in EP 0 472 360. The container comprises a pallet and placed thereon an inner liner bag, an outer bag member and a frame surrounding the liner bag and the bag member. The frame is a collapsible frame so that it can be manufactured in separate parts and the entire container can be sent to a user in a non-assembled condition.
It is evident that it would desirable to reuse the container not only for economical reason but also for environment pollution reasons. Then, single-use containers, such as pallet containers for transport and storage of liquids, have to be substituted with multi-use containers.
A multiuse container is disclosed in US 2005/0145521. The container comprises a pallet and placed thereon a inner liner of polyethylene, an outer skin of a woven polypropylene fabric-like material and a rigid framework to which the outer skin is secured. Since this container does not meet the requirement of standard pallet containers, it is not interchangeable with other pallet containers. Therefore, the container can be reused only for the same single specific application and not for different applications. Alternatively, it can be returned but with high returning costs.
Another multiuse container is disclosed in WO 2004/022440. The container comprises a containing box-structure defining a housing and a bag that is arranged in the housing and can be filled so as to pass from a flattened empty condition to a filled condition in which the bag has a volume that corresponds substantially to the volume of the housing of the box structure. The containing box structure comprises a base and a side wall which extends vertically from the base. The box structure is typically made of cardboard, plastic or steel. In the cardboard version, the box structure is a disposable structure and cannot therefore be reused. Consequently, once it has reached the final user, this box structure must be disposed off, resulting in problems of accumulation of waste material and the consequent cost of disposal. This box structure is also intrinsically weak and not suitable for excessively long journeys. In the plastic or steel version, the box structure is more robust and can be reused more than once but, considering its high production costs, it must be returned to the proprietor with the consequent impact of the costs of returning and/or cleaning the box structure so that it can be reused. In fact, since the plastic box does not meet the requirement of standard pallet containers, it is not interchangeable with other containers and so it can be reused only for a single specific application.
Another multiuse container is disclosed in WO 2007/029011. The container comprises a rigid framework, made of sheet metal or in the form of a mesh. Into the rigid framework is placed a vessel including an inner layer and an outer layer and having an inlet aperture and an outlet aperture. Outer and inner layers are joined at first seams adjacent and surrounding inlet and outlet apertures and by seams at the edge of the vertical sides. The inner liquid vessel is folded when the container does not contain any liquid and at least one portion of the inner vessel is substantially vertical and follows the vertical faces of the outer vessel and the vertical wall of the container and unfolds automatically as liquid in introduced into the container. Since the inlet of the inner vessel is joined to the outer vessel in a predefined position, the container can only be used with specific filling heads that, when the container is placed in position to be filled, are in line with the inlet. Therefore, even if the vessel is suitable for use with conventional crate and pallet containers, the container can not be used with any filling head and so it does not meet the required requirements of versatility. Since the neck of the inner vessel is connected to the outer vessel through the inlet device, it comes out that, after the first use, it is necessary disposal of both the inner vessel and the outer vessel which are connected to each others. Another multi-use container is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,454,113. The container comprises a pallet, a metal cage placed on the pallet, an inner container placed on the pallet into the metal cage. The inner container comprises an outer envelope of a woven material and an inner envelope of plastic foil positioned in the outer envelope. The longitudinal edge strips of the inner envelope are sewn or glued to the mantle, bottom and cover pieces of the outer envelope to form the inner container. The inner envelope is therefore arranged in a unfolded configuration, sewn or glued to the outer envelope and ready to be filled by liquid. The method of manufacturing of this container is extremely complicated since inner envelope and outer envelope must be sewn or glued together. Moreover, it should be noted that, after use of the container, inner envelope and outer envelope are wasted and the outer envelope can not be reused. As in WO 2007/029011, since the inner envelope is connected to the outer envelope, after the first use, it is necessary disposal of both the inner envelope and the outer envelope.